SWG Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Ruan Shengyi looked at the woman who had half her body outside the door and blinked.

She finally understood where the disharmony since the beginning of this meeting came from—from the woman’s smile.

It wasn’t the cool but deeply heartfelt smile they often shared, but the forced and desperately concealed smile the woman had worn that first night when facing her friends.

Ruan Shengyi’s lips trembled and trembled, and she asked in a low voice, “Xiao Wenyu, are you…”

“Happy?”

Xiao Wenyu was stunned for a moment, then raised the corners of her lips and said, “Happy, yes.”

“I’m very happy.”

Her voice was very light, so light that it seemed only the tip of her tongue lightly touched her palate, and only a few syllables floated from her throat, as if only intended for a specific person to hear.

Ruan Shengyi looked at her, looking at her slightly from above, and asked again, “Xiao Wenyu, are you happy?”

Clear light cast a soft filter on her face, and this time, she curved her eyebrows and eyes and said, “Happy, very happy, taking pictures of such a beautiful place, very happy.”

“…” Ruan Shengyi slowly exhaled, touched her head, and chuckled, “Then take the pictures.”

“However, since Boss Xiao has promoted me, I can’t lose either.” As she spoke, she took half a step forward, only half a step away from Xiao Wenyu, lowered her head slightly, and their hair could even intertwine.

Xiao Wenyu, if you still remember our agreement…

I’m not happy, not happy at all.

But the other person acted as if nothing had happened, and just smiled when she heard this, saying, “Okay, Tonight Intoxicated has such a large customer flow, I’m honored.”

“…” Ruan Shengyi slowly exhaled, stepped aside, and walked into the store, “What do you want to photograph?”

“How about Boss Ruan making cocktails?” Xiao Wenyu smiled casually, raised her hand and wiped the corner of her lips, “I won’t post them, just for you to see.”

“Okay.”

Xiao Wenyu clenched her camera, followed behind her, watching her take a black vest from the side and put it on, simply tidying up the white shirt and black trousers inside, then picking up her hair, “Should I tie it up?”

“No need.” Xiao Wenyu pressed down on her tongue to prevent the bitterness from spreading, “It’s also very beautiful this way.”

“Okay, then like this. You’ll take candid shots?”

“Yes.”

Ruan Shengyi tilted her head slightly, the wide frame of her glasses shielded many shadows in the light, her Dark Tea Long Hair slanted to one side, revealing her fair neck, everything was suppressed under the white shirt, leaving only a faint outline.

She raised her hand to pull over the order screen, glanced at the order, took the measuring cup and base liquor from the side, and began to prepare the cocktail.

A clear profile was reflected on the stainless steel shaker, slightly tinged with blue, and only the sound of the liquid in the shaker remained in the soft and gentle music.

Then she pulled over the square-rimmed glass that had been placed aside and frosted, dipped it in salt grains to coat it with a layer of salt frost, flicked it in her hand, and it landed steadily in her palm, the clear liquor slid down from the center without splashing a drop.

Ruan Shengyi smiled and pushed it forward, raising her eyes to look at the person who had been holding the camera, “How is it?”

Xiao Wenyu maintained that posture for a long time before slowly putting it down, raising her lips, “Extremely beautiful.”

No one can reject a person who shines in their own field of expertise, and even more so, no one can reject a person who still has a smile with a bit of pride after finishing.

Such a person deserves a broader world, deserves a smoother and more compatible love.

Right, Xiao Wenyu, that’s what you think too, right?

Don’t use her as your ladder, you don’t deserve to do that.

As her eyes flickered, Xiao Wenyu slowly suppressed the tears in her eyes, and conjured up a smile again.

A smile that didn’t come from the heart.

But a smile that genuinely hoped she was well.

“Then I also have a request.” Ruan Shengyi suddenly said.

Xiao Wenyu: “Tell me.”

The woman took out her phone again, her voice inevitably tinged with a lot of melancholy, “Take pictures here, or…”

“Go to the changing room.”

Go to the changing room where only they knew what had happened, start from scratch, start over, let her know where she went wrong, what was wrong, what was not likable, okay?

Boss Xiao’s fingertips hidden behind her back were pinched white, she smiled, and said, “The lighting in the changing room isn’t good, let’s do it here.”

The phone was tossed up casually in the manner of tossing a cocktail shaker, and then held steadily in her hand, blocking half of Ruan Shengyi’s face, she cracked her voice and said, “Then let’s do it here.”

“Boss Xiao probably doesn’t know how beautiful she looks when she holds a camera.”

No need for filters, no need for beauty, not even the need to deliberately look for angles, just need the person in the lens to smile slightly.

But Ruan Shengyi took the pictures with such sadness.

So much so that when Xie Yu urged her to leave the bar, she still hadn’t pressed the photo button.

Why, what went wrong, why couldn’t they continue, even if it was just continuing the game of friendly neighbors.

Why, can’t they continue?

Xiao Wenyu smiled for a long time and asked softly, “Are you done?”

“I… I’m done.”

The woman re-hung the camera, tidied her hair, and said, “Then I’ll go first.”

She turned around, seemed to think of something again, and turned her head halfway, “Happy Mid-Autumn Festival.”

The photo was taken at this moment, the sincere smile made the whole person a lot more energetic, and with the light-colored filter, it was soft and beautiful.

Ruan Shengyi clenched her phone and said, “Happy Mid-Autumn Festival.”

*

After Mid-Autumn Festival, the weather cooled down a lot, but the heating hadn’t come yet, so the shirt could no longer cope with the need to stay in the store for a long time.

Ruan Shengyi put away her thin shirts and put on a fluffy sweater, standing behind the bar and taking turns with Xie Yu and Ye Min to serve customers.

When it wasn’t a holiday, Tonight Intoxicated wasn’t open during the day, and she returned to her days of waking up in the mid-afternoon every day, but when she woke up, she couldn’t help but take a look at the situation opposite.

But the glass was foggy, and she couldn’t see clearly.

Ruan Shengyi tried to wipe the fog, but the glass that hadn’t been cleaned for several years would have outside fog even if the inside was cleaned.

She quickly put on her clothes, grabbed a coat at random, didn’t put on makeup or do her hair, and slung a shoulder bag and went downstairs.

When living in the store, the door was usually locked from the inside, she opened the door, leaned against the door and thought for a while, but still went out and gently locked the door.

Ruan Shengyi forced herself to scan the store opposite like she was looking at the surrounding shops, and then quickly moved her eyes away.

The Fourth Kind of Primary Color was not open, but this house belonged to Xiao Wenyu, so it was right to take a break for a few weeks.

She has family, two mothers who love her, and the freedom to do whatever she wants, so naturally she has the freedom to close.

After all, she earned so much during the Mid-Autumn Festival, and the National Day is coming soon, and no one is like her who has to desperately seize every opportunity to make money to survive, she can completely only do business during the two holidays.

She took half a step forward, and then fell back down, until a fallen leaf hit her on the head, then she suddenly realized for a moment.

It turned out that a week had passed since Mid-Autumn Festival.

It turned out that it had been more than a week since they went out together every day.

It was ridiculous that they had only known each other for a few weeks, and the length of time they treated each other as strangers was almost catching up with the time they had been friends.

Ruan Shengyi smiled self-deprecatingly, did not choose to cross the road, but walked along her side of the street towards the decoration shop.

Her phone was not on sound, after all, the vibration was enough to remind her.

Boss Ruan casually answered the phone, as always, taciturn: “What’s wrong, Teacher?”

Chen Yuexin mysteriously said: “I accompanied your sister to the check-up today, guess who I seem to have seen?”

“Who? Your ex-girlfriend?” Ruan Shengyi ran a hand through her hair irritably.

Chen Yuexin: “It’s the girl you brought to dinner that day! I feel like it’s her, that chestnut brown hairstyle is too easy to recognize, hey, you…”

“I don’t know who you’re talking about.” Ruan Shengyi said softly, “Maybe you’re mistaken, I’ll hang up first.”

“?? Ruan Shengyi!”

“Bye bye.”

Ruan Shengyi scratched her hair again, exhaled irritably, stuffed her phone into her pocket, and threw her hands outside.

Less than a minute after she left, a taxi stopped steadily in front of the Fourth Kind of Primary Color.

Xiao Wenyu opened the car door, holding the two sides of her trench coat tightly with one hand, and carrying the things she had just brought back from the hospital with the other.

She stepped out of the car in small steps, and the driver behind her was still kindly telling her to slow down.

Xiao Wenyu gently lifted the hair at her temples and said softly, “Thank you, have a good trip.”

The driver waved his hand, waited for her to close the door, and slowly drove away from the quiet street.

Xiao Wenyu slowly exhaled, inevitably swept to the shop opposite that hadn’t opened yet, her breath stagnated slightly, and she couldn’t help but laugh self-deprecatingly.

You were the one who pushed people away, why are you still reluctant here?

Aren’t you the best at withdrawing from a relationship?

She supported her arm, stood on tiptoe in place, forced herself to turn around, and took out the key to open the door.

Just then, a phone call came in.

“Hello, Mom ~” Xiao Wenyu tilted her head and held the phone, gently leaning on the door handrail, looking down for her key.

Zhao Wen: “An old thing that doesn’t value face but can’t let go asked me to ask you, how was today’s check-up, was it smooth?”

Xiao Wenyu chuckled a few times and said, “Smooth, don’t worry.”

Zhao Wen: “That old thing said, why don’t you come home to live, in a few days it will slowly show, it’s really inconvenient for you to be alone, we can help a little when you come back.”

Xiao Wenyu opened the door, softened her voice: “No need, I…”

Her eyes swept to the opposite side, and she still paused subconsciously.

Zhao Wen: “What’s wrong! Are you feeling unwell!?”

Xiao Wenyu chuckled softly, changed hands to hold the phone, re-closed the door, leaned against the entire street, and said, “No, I was just opening the door. My stomach has been a little tight these two days, but I hired a new employee, don’t worry.”

The other end of the phone seemed to have gone through a rather complicated struggle and change, Xiao Wenyu listened to the noise over there, looked down at her lower abdomen, and smiled casually.

After a long time, another voice came from the microphone, “Come back, I’ll make your favorite tonight.”

“No, Mom, someone has an appointment for a night scene tonight.”

“Not for you to eat, for my granddaughter.”

“How does she know what she likes, okay, wait until I’m free, okay?”

“…Don’t come back if you don’t want to!”

Pa, the phone was hung up.

The large shop was left with only Xiao Wenyu alone again.

She stretched lazily, went up to the second floor, took the photocopy of the photos taken from the hospital in her hand, and observed it for a long time on the tree branch photo wall she had made to record her life, and pasted it on the tree trunk.

After all, this is a meeting photo in the true sense.

She sat on the ground boldly, gently stroking the photo, her eyes full of tenderness.

It was just that the stroking changed direction, and a blurred portrait was pasted at the top of the tree.